Band Biographies

Finnforest wrote: ProgressiveAttic wrote: ProgressiveAttic wrote: I've noticed that THE SYN has no bio.... so I wrote one: The Syn was one of the first bands in the London early prog scene and its history is intimately related to YES' origin and therefore it was fundamental to the development of prog. Originally, the band was formed by school mates Steve Nardelli (lead vocals) and John Painter (guitar) around 1965, playing R&B covers. The Syn was later joined by the members of a band called THE SELFS comprised by Chris Squire (bass), Andrew Jackman (keyboards) and Martyn Adelman (drums). Shortly afer, original guitarist Painter was replaced by Peter Banks and Martyn Adelman left to be replaced by Icelandic Gunnar Hákonarson behind the drums. The addition of two new members changed the direction of the band. Instead of playing R&B covers they started to write their own psychedelic oriented pieces, releasing two singles (Created by Clive and Flowerman) in 1967 and becoming one of the first bands (if not the first) to perform a rock opera on stage. The band became a regular at the Marquee club in London and got to open for JIMI HENDRIX on one of his historic concerts. In 1967 the band disbanded and Chris Squire together with Peter Banks left to form Mabel Greer's Toyshop which will later evolve into Yes' first incarnation. In 2003, 36 years after disbanding the band, Adelman, Nardelli and Banks started to plan a reunion. In 2005 the lineup formed by Paul Stacey(guitars), Gerard Johnson (keyboards), Steve Nardelli (vocals),Jeremy Stacey (drums) and Chris Squire (bass, backing vocals) released the first studio album of the band "Syndestructible". After the release an tour of "Syndestructible", Nardelli took over the THE SYN name and recruited Francis Dunnery (guitars) and Tom Brislin (keyboards), the last one having played with other classic prog acts such as Camel and Yes. This lineup released "Big Sky" in early 2009 with the collaboration of Brett Kull, Paul Ramsey and Dorie Jackson. Studio Discography: "Syndestructible" 2005 "Big Sky" 2009 The overall sound of "Syndestructible" will appeal to modern YES and Chris Squire fans, since the style is very reminiscent to recent YES (specially Rabin era) and CONSPIRACY. On the other hand "Big Sky" has moved to a more original sound but is still close to YES. Highly recommended to Chris Squire and mellow prog fans. Michael (AKA ProgressiveAttic) Is the bio OK or should I change something? Thanks Michael!  I added the Bio.

NP I'll do more in the future... It is fun to research about this things...

NotAProghead wrote: snobb wrote:   Originally posted by NotAProghead Long ago I promised to Eugene (Fassbinder) to write Autograph bio, I even started it, but it's still unfinished. I think I should keep my promise. Wait until the end of the world several days, guys.    I looks the process is stucked a little bit?   Does something happens with this, or I just can write it ? Slava, if you're in the mood to do it, please do it . I remember my promise, but my thoughts now are far from Autograf.

Picture and bio added for Tween Deck 2

Kedama has been given a picture, a bio and a web addy.

The new bio I did for Kayo Dot is up now:

http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=1870

Excellent stuff Slava  and Eugene!  Many thanks.

Also did a new bio for motW!

Guys, great work I've been seeing here last few days of watching this thread. 

I realized that from these thousands of bands that are in PA database, only 100 of them doesn't have biographies (just check admin panel). Some are not so good, but at least, it's not void space.

So just these 100 bands, add new bands only with biographies (this is default policy, isn't it ?) and we're done.

Orient Squeezers need a biography at http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=1250

I have got it from their homepage at  www.tap-records.com/

It goes like this:

This is basically a solo project with composer and multi-instrumentalist Håkan Almkvist from Ensemble Nimbus. Here making a hybrid of psychedelic rock and oriental music, using traditional Indian instruments such as sitar, tabla, tanpura, santoor, along with electric guitars, bass, keyboards, samplers, percussion.

The whole idea to mix his knowledge about Indian classical music and their instruments together with more rock established instruments and western music came into his mind after being asked to make a live performance on a cultural event about different Asian cultures in 1996. The arranger was expecting a quite young audience not familiar to and not patient enough for listening to pure Indian classical Raga music, so there was a need of more familiar elements in the music to pick up the attention.

After making a few gigs with members of Ensemble Nimbus and some other musicians as the group Orient Squeezers, there was no permanent group playing the material after a while. Nevertheless he continued to compose and started more seriously to record tunes in the same style every now and than. By the end of 1998 there was enough material for a full length CD. In springtime of 1999 the CD titled "SADHU" was released. It's mainly influenced by north Indian classical music and many of the tracks are based upon different raga scales. Field recordings taken from a small Indian tribe living in the foothills of Himalaya has been used to strengthen the atmosphere throughout the entire record. It's a kind of homage to Håkans initial sitar guru and his disciple friend from Bangladesh. All the great response and so many good reviews were encouraging to continue making this kind of music.

The tunes to the follow up CD titled "NAGAS" released in September 2000, was composed and recorded between July-99 and may-00. This time the inspiration did not come only from Indian music and scales but also by music from Egypt, Turkey and Indonesia (inspired by a trip to Bali where he was collecting environmental field recordings).

The third release "NUBIA" made in 2001 is mainly influenced by Balkan, East European and North African music. Still you will hear hints of Indian and Far East music well known from the previous albums. This time stronger flavours of psychedelic and progressive music has been added, along with a wider spectra of instruments used than heard before. The whole album is highly inspired by a journey Håkan made to Egypt, visiting many ancient Pharaonic historical places. This is especially prominent in the pictures and layout of the CD.

Unnecessary to add that I hope to bring an interview.......

All right, because it really breaks my heart to see a folk band with no biography, no matter how obscure or average it is, I decided to give Flibbertigibbet a hand.  
Spoiler: I haven't written anything like this before, so feel free to edit, manipulate etc etc the text so it would conform to the rules.

FLIBBERTIGIBBET was established in Johannesburg, South Africa during the apartheid, when former Mellow Candle members Alison O’Donnell and David Williams met Joanna (Jo) Dudding and Barrie Glenn at the Mangles folk club which was famous for launching numerous of the day’s South African folk musicians. Despite the country of origin of the group, their inspiration lied in British and Irish folklore, the sound of their recordings taking us back to the likes of STEELEYE SPAN, MELLOW CANDLE, but also to hints of early FAIRPORT CONVENTION. The band made several appearances on radio and television shows, and also performed at the Market Café in the Market Theatre, a place renowned for its apartheid opposition. Barrie and Jo, who eventually got married, left the group in 1979, being replaced by Heather Lawn and Virgil Ellis. However, they continued playing live together only for a short period of time due to financial problems, before breaking up.

In 1978 FLIBBERTIGIBBET released their sole studio album, “Whistling Jigs to the Moon”, which was initially a very rare South-African record, until it saw the light of day on CD format courtesy of Kissing Spell and later of Si-Wan Records. In 2004 a compilation of unreleased live and studio recordings from the time of their album, was put out and entitled “My Lagan Love”. Both releases hold the archetypal British folk rock sound of the 70’s, thus making them a group recommended mainly for the fans of the genre.

Edited by Lizzy - June 10 2010 at 06:15